Govt: 60% followers of Mehdi’s Twitter account non-Muslims

Updated At : 07:22 PM Dec 16, 2014 IST

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 15

Days after the Bangalore based-techie, Mehdi Masroor Biswas, was arrested by the Karnataka police for his alleged links with the Islamic State IS, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today told Parliament that the interrogation had indicated that activities of Mehdi Biswas were limited to posting of pro-ISIS material on his Twitter account and social media sites.

"He has denied having recruited any person for IS," said Rajnath even as Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge advised: "don't rush to give him a clean chit".

Singh said Mehdi Biswas had been booked under Sections 3, 13 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,1967, Section 66-F of the Information Technology Act and Section 125 of the Indian Penal Code. The sections of the UAPA deal with participating and abetting terror activities.

Mehdi's role was first highlighted by a UK news channel for circulating IS material through a Twitter account '@ShamiWitness'. "He used to visit prominent ISIS related sites, mostly in Arabic Language and then translate the contents in to English and repost the material on his Twitter account.” Singh said.

During interrogation Mehdi disclosed that more than 60 per cent of his twitter account followers were non-Muslims from western countries and many of his Muslim followers were too from the West, particularly the UK. He had started closely following the developments in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan through internet during his college days and has been active in the social networking sites since 2009, said the Home Minister.

Govt: 60% followers of Mehdi’s Twitter account non-Muslims

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